Bill Mays and I have frequently been asked whether our History Of Jazz Piano project would ever be available to the public. After a good deal of discussion, attention to detail and audio remastering, the answer is yes. The concert is now a free download on Bill’s website.

We have performed the History three times in various parts of the world and may do further versions of it at festivals. For now, the 2015 presentation lives as a digital presence on the web. Go here to see Bill’s announcement and get download instructions. This project is close to our hearts. We hope that you enjoy it.

There are several jazz pieces called “Eclipse.” Tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri, the Japanese group called Kyoto Jazz Massive, and the Mexican singer Bere Contreras, among others, have performed or recorded compositions with that name.

The best known “Eclipse,” though, remains the one that Charles Mingus first recorded in the 1950s and revived for a 1972 concert at Philharmonic Hall in New York. In the ‘72 concert, Mingus performed with a 21 piece all-star band conducted by Teo Macero. The saxophones included Gerry Mulligan, Gene Ammons, Lee Konitz, James Moody and Charles McPherson. The brass and rhythm sections were equally distinguished. Bill Cosby was the master of ceremonies. In this track recorded at the concert, Honi Gordon sings “Eclipse,” whose lyric begins,

Eclipse, when the moon meets the sun.
Eclipse, two bodies become as one…

Here are Mingus, Ms. Gordon and the band

It is an open secret long acknowledged nearly everywhere: the best jazz musicians in other parts of the world are in a league with top players from the United States. Evidence of that excellence—if further evidence was needed—surfaced this summer in Prague when visiting American trumpeters Marcus Printup and Greg Gisbert sat in with pianist Emil Viklický (pictured) and his quartet of fellow Czechs. Printup and Gisbert were on tour with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. They combined with Viklický, trumpeter Miroslav Hloucal, bassist Petr Dvorsky and drummer Jirka Stivin, Jr. We have two pieces from their impromptu encounter at Prague’s Reduta jazz club. The first in what Viklický calls a “trumpet summit” is Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance.”

The Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival ran six days and was packed with so much music that there was no chance of hearing it all. Here are brief impressions of a few more performances.

Gilbert Holmström New Sextet

In the Per Helsas Gard courtyard, the 80-year-old tenor saxophonist led five younger musicians in pieces that drew in equal measure on late bebop and on free jazz of the Ornette Coleman school. Holmström blended with trumpeter Magnus Broo, at times incisively, at others floating and abstract. “The Wizard,” dedicated to the late arranger/composer Gil Evans, had a nifty line played at first in unison, then harmonized by Holmström and Broo. Holmström’s “West African Dance” rode on Kresten Osgood’s sui generis drum pattern supporting a Broo solo that nailed the essence of West African music. Jonas Kulhammar’s baritone saxophone solo departed from that equatorial feeling to explode in a wild, free conclusion. Mathias Landau was the pianist, Mattias Svensson the bassist. Kept busy at this festival, they are in the top rank of Swedish jazz artists and played with their usual excellence.

Nicole Johänntgen, Sofia II

Following her acclaimed performance at Ystad in 2015, Ms. Johänntgen returned with another band of international female jazz artists. The music included three pieces that she said were inspired by a recent visit to Iceland but were titled “Ystad 1,” “Ystad 2” and “Ystad 3.” All were redolent of contemporary jazz practices, with space for harmonic interpretation by the players and considerable interaction among them. The band included instruments rarely used in jazz—tabla, harp and accordion. The blues inflections and bent notes in Johänntgen’s soprano and alto sax solos created atmospheres of their own. Belgian accordionist Anne Niepold’s face showed strain in the act of creation that was not reflected in her clever, relaxed solos. Exotic in a turban and flowing gown, Swiss harpist Julie Campiche employed a good deal of amplified twang and fuzz in her solos. With the percussive flow of her drumming, the Nepalese tabla player Shresta Sanskriti filled nearly every moment with her energy. Carlotta Andersson gave her composition “Malmö” dramatic drone guitar effects. Bassist Lisa Wulff of Germany dedicated her composition “Lund” to her bass teacher, who she said was in the audience. The drummer was Great Britain’s Sophie Alloway. Remarkably, the musicians Johänntgen assembled in Ystad got together for the first time the day before the performance. It is noteworthy that with so little rehearsal time, they achieved considerable cohesion.

Jan Lundgren Potsdamer Quartet

Festival artistic director Jan Lundgren took his Potsdamer Quartet into the Ystad Theater for a concert of music from their recent Potsdamer Platz album. The title tune and all but one of the ten others were by Lundgren. They included the quartet version of his emotional “The Poet,” which he had played the night before as a duet with trombonist Nils Landgren. Finnish alto saxophonist Jukka Perko’s affinity for Paul Desmond was apparent throughout, nowhere more than in his long lines and the tonal purity of his high notes in the ballad “Never Too Late.” Further along in the program, Perko had moments of vigor more in common with other contemporary alto players like Miguel Zenón and Steve Coleman. Danish drummer Morten Lund frequently used brushes to interact with Dan Berglund’s forceful bass lines, the rhythm partners buoying Lundgren’s forward motion, which was already propulsive. “Twelve Tone Rag” was a vehicle for Lundgren’s and Perko’s virtuosity at a speedy tempo. For all of its delicacy, this quartet made powerful music. Creativity generates power.

Eddi Reader, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra Directed by Tommy Smith

Ms. Reader is a singer of compelling stage presence who dances, glides and strikes poses to supplement her performance. If that description makes her seem off-putting, she is not. There’s enough wry spoofing in what she does to make her charming and enough musicianship to justify her work with a first-class band. The photos of her with the orchestra indicate the nature of her personality. Ms. Reader’s program included a number of songs based in the poetry of Robert Burns, including “A Fond Kiss. ”In her Ystad concert, she had the estimable support of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra led by tenor saxophonist Tommy Smith. He is one of several soloists in the band who played impressively in the ensemble and in solo. Among the others were pianist Steve Hamilton and alto saxophonist Martin Kershaw. Smith is the saxophonist on your left in the larger picture. He had a superb solo on, among other pieces, “The Glen of Tranquility.”

Jerry Bergonzi And Tim Hagans

Tenor Saxophonist Bergonzi and trumpeter Hagans are established veterans of modern jazz who thrive in the post-bebop tradition. The Ystad Theater concert by their quintet affirmed their high standing in the music. With a rhythm section of Danes Carl Winther and Anders Mogensen on piano and drums, respectively, and the Finnish-Swedish bassist Johnny Åman, their concert opened with “A.M. Time,” a tune named for Mogensen. His drumming established a demanding pace and a spirit that carried through the afternoon. In Hagans’ “Things Happen In A Convertible” (he tends toward titles with obscure meanings), Åman’s bass solo elicited from Bergonzi that ultimate jazz expression of approval, “Yeah.” Long solos followed, by the horns and Winther. Hagans introduced “Dream Child,” a song by the pianist’s late father Jens Winther, revered in Scandinavian jazz circles for his trumpet playing, arranging and bandleading. Bergonzi brought great intensity to his solo. In his choruses, Hagans worked in a couple of quotes from the Freddie Hubbard phrase book. In “Laura,” Bergonzi found the essence of that perfect David Raksin ballad from 1945. Hagans’ improvisation included reminders of the tune’s melody, a service too few soloists perform for their listeners. Finally, the quintet played Hagans’ “That’s What Happens When You Leave The Door Open,” with solos by all hands at a tempo so fast that it may have left the audience breathless —before they broke into an ovation.

(Photos by Markus Fägersten, except Johanntgen by Harri Paavolainen)

Catching up is a noble ambition, but the quantity of music at the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival and the tight scheduling make it all but impossible to be comprehensive. My notebook is overflowing with impressions. Here are brief reports on a few performances.

The festival’s opening concert was by the New York band The Rad Trads, whose blend of traditional, jazz, rock and folk music accounts for their name. They enlivened the ancient courtyard of Per Helsas Gård for an hour and a half before they led the festival’s celebratory opening parade through Ystad’s streets. In the photo below you see The Rad Trads. Directly below the upraised bell of Michael Fatum’s trumpet is Japanese alto saxophonist Yosuke Sato.

A couple of days later at Per Helsas GÃ¥rd, the energetic Sato co-led a group with guitarist Jacob Fischer, rested from his Tuesday concert with Hans Beckenroth at the Klosterkyrkan. From the aural evidence, Sato’s playing seems to have been influenced equally by Cannonball Adderley and Phil Woods. He and Fischer opened with Adderley’s “Wabash,” then burned through several choruses of Sonny Rollins’ “Airegin,” a classic from Rollins’ tenure with Miles Davis in the 1950s. It must be tempting for a saxophonist with Sato’s technique to fully use it . He may have loaded at least one virtuosic run too many into his choruses on Johnny Mandel’s “Emily,” but apart from that it was a superb solo, as was the following one by Danish pianist Zier Romme Larson. The Fischer-Sato group took  the 1920 Al Jolson hit “Avalon” fast, Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation” faster than fast. The speedier tempos had the unexpected effect of encouraging Sato, pianist Larson and Fischer to introduce more space into their solos, a welcome development.

Angels At The Museum

The Swedish bassist David Carlsson presented his David’s Angels at the Konstmuseum in downtown Ystad. The angels were vocalist Sofie Norling, pianist Maggi Olin, the Danish drummer Michala Østergaard-Nielsen and as featured guest artist, Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen.

 

A leader in her own right and often a member of Maria Schneider’s New York big band, Jensen was compelling with and without the electronic augmentation that she has made a specialty. Her use of loop effects and echo controlled by a foot pedal helped give Carlsson’s minor-key “Now That It’s Over” an eerie cast reminiscent of Middle Eastern music. She was all over the full range of the trumpet, often squeezing out sequences of notes in the extreme upper register. Carlsson is, to say the least, an active player.  His lines on the electric bass inflect the band’s work with jazz-rock undercurrents.

In a piece that Carlsson said was about “getting rid of stuff in your life,” Jensen and Norling performed voice-trumpet unison passages and Norling displayed her extremely personal way of scat singing. In her improvisation, Jensen quoted the title phrase of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” a fitting reference in this 50th anniversary year of the saxophone master’s death. Among the surprises delivered by David’s Angels was Jensen’s use of her trumpet as a percussion instrument. She lightly pounded the mouthpiece with the palm of her hand as she held the horn’s bell to a microphone. It created the desired popping sound, but—a warning to trumpet players—the action may cause you to cringe and wonder if she’s jamming the mouthpiece irretreivably into the horn. There is no video of the Ystad concert, but in a performance captured earlier at the Gustav Adolfs Church in Helsingborg you’ll get a sense of Norling’s flexible vocalizing, a bit of Jensen’s trumpet work including the mouthpiece whacking,  and the style of Carlsson’s band.  The piece is called “I’m Not Sorry At All.”

Joy In An Ancient Ystad Church

Swedish bassist Hans Backenroth and Danish guitarist Jacob Fischer played in the 11th century Klosterkyrkan, not far from Ystad’s center. Among the most experienced European jazz artists, they found ways of dealing with the acoustical challenge created by the church’s recesses and stone surfaces, famous for causing sound delays of as much as six seconds. Indeed, they made the phenomenon work for them. The resonating effect was enchanting when Backenroth bowed his bass, as he did on “Look For The Silver Lining.” Their first piece, whose title was not announced, had harmonic progressions reminiscent of classic bebop tunes like “Confirmation.”

The duo’s repertoire included “Crazy He Calls Me,” a song forever connected with Billie Holiday, especially when it’s played with the swing feeling Backenroth and Fischer gave it. Following their statement of the theme, they took “Summertime” at a lively waltz tempo , then into lively waltz time and into straight 4/4. Fischer used his guitar’s body to make it sound as if a bongo player had materialized. An enchanting medley of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “A Felicidade” and Fischer’s “Latino” set off the rhythmic unison clapping which, in Europe, means that the audience demands an encore. Backenroth and Fischer responded with trumpeter Clifford Brown’s “Joy Spring.” It is a harmonically demanding piece that has accumulated velocity over the decades and is often taken at barn-burner tempos as a cutting-contest battleground. Not this time. They made “Joy Spring” slow and rhythmic. In a solo that had a little funk and a lot of heart, Fischer emphasized the tune’s innate lyricism.

Oskar Stenmark & Piatruba

One reason I looked forward to this year’s edition of the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival was that it would be an the opportunity to hear members of the new generation of musicians springing up on the continent. The young flugelhornist Oskar Stenmark and his colleagues are among them. Rained out of their intended outdoor performance space, they and their audience took refuge in Scala, the venerable downtown Ystad cinema. Stenmark, pianist Robin Skarin and bassist Linus Fredin specialize in—according to the festival program —…”Sweden’s rich folk tradition.”— After three years in New York City, Stenmark said that he’s back in Sweden to “keep contacts.” He is staying close to, among others, his large extended family in Dalarna in the mountains north of Stockholm, near the Norwegian border. He and his father are so close that the senior Stenmark, seen here on the right, sat in as a hand drummer on two tunes.

Some of the folk music Stenmark played in Ystad has been in his family for ten generations. Yet, his improvising is thoroughly modern, perhaps disclosing the influence of the flugelhorn and trumpet master Art Farmer but also incorporating the element in Swedish music that pianist Jan Lundgren has identified as between sadness and happiness. That quality was evident in “Day of the Bride,” a folk song about a bridal couple who drowned on their wedding day. In balance, the trio played a wedding celebration song, used in Stenmark’s ancestral region to accompany the carrying of the bride around the room. A piece that Stenmark introduced as a “walking tune” featured a Fredin bass solo that was slow and firm, ending with a piano solo over the flugelhorn’s whole notes for a hymn-like ending. What Stenmark described as “a calling tune, a horn song,” featured Fredin’s bowed bass. Through all of this music based in Swedish country arcania, Stenmark, Skarin and Fredin improvised with modern uses of harmony. Their music is at once nostalgic and thoroughly up to date or, as I heard an audience member say, “So old, so hip”.

At the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival, the American trumpeter Bobby Medina led a big band in a program that drew on his bebop credentials and his Latin American heritage. Claus Sörenson’s XL Big Band of musicians from throughout southern Sweden was impressive in its versatility as it negotiated Medina’s demanding arrangements. Married to a woman from Sweden, Medina is known here for his history with the festival. For the 2015 edition, he was chosen to play from the St. Mary’s Church tower the traditional 10 p.m. fanfare assuring Ystad’s citizens that all is well. This year, that honor went to the Japanese saxophonist Yosuke Sato.

Medina paid tribute to two of his trumpet inspirations, Chet Baker and Blue Mitchell. His arrangement of “Autumn Leaves” incorporated a transcription for his trumpet and the saxophone section of Baker’s solo from the 1974 CTI album She Was Too Good To Me. His melding of Baker’s inventiveness into the arrangement was clever and moving. The calypso-based “Fungii Mama” was the title tune of Mitchell’s 1964 album The Thing To Do. Medina’s trumpet solo led into a harmonically resourceful alto sax solo by Ludwig Samuelsson, one of several gifted saxophone soloists in the band. Samuelsson scored again on Horace Silver’s “Filthy McNasty.” An intercultural highlight of Medina’s set was “Forever My Love,” a danzón inspired by his Mexican ancestry. His deep and powerful flugelhorn solo preceded an equally effective guitar chorus by the XL’s Anders Apell. Playing into a tight mute, Medina shined brightly in Tom Kubis’s up-tempo arrangement of “There Is No Greater Love.”

The trumpeter included in his concert a guest appearance by a young Swedish singer and dancer billed only as Frans (pictured left), whose performance had elements of hip-hop. It was entertaining if, in the context, somewhat puzzling. (Photo: M. Fägersten)

(Still more from Ystad as writing time materializes; this is a tightly scheduled festival. There is a lot of listening to do. Please stay tuned.)

The 2017 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival launched with a tribute to Monica Zetterlund (1937-2005). The singer’s legacy in her homeland seems to steadily expand, and the attendance reflected her continued presence in Sweden’s cultural life. The concert, “Monica Z—Forever and Ever,” attracted 1,500 listeners to the Ystad Arena. Recently opened, the imposing athletic and cultural center was funded by the taxpayers of this town of 29,000, which has a medieval history and a modern community spirit. We see the arena here in one of its more customary functions.

The concert brought together the veteran Swedish popular singers Svante Thuresson and Tommy Körberg, along with Hannah Svensson, one of a new generation of jazz artists influenced by Zetterlund. They were accompanied by a big band led by Carl Bagge, whose late father Lasse worked frequently with Zetterlund as her pianist. Jan Lundgren (pictured), the Ystad festival’s artistic director who helped found this festival, also appeared on piano.

Thuresson, now in his 80s, opened with “Skylark.” He projected phrasing, tonality, personality and musicianship rare in singers of any age. His performance of the song surrounded an alto saxophone solo by Hâkan Broström, who reinforced my impression from previous visits to Sweden that his lyricism, passion and inventiveness make him one of the most interesting alto players alive.

Tommy Körberg, another singer of a certain age who is enormously popular in Sweden, brought to the stage expansiveness and enthusiasm that in some songs had an esthetic more appropriate to a Las Vegas lounge than a jazz concert. Nonetheless, in Leonard Bernstein’s “Some Other Time” he created intimacy that was matched by Carl Bagge’s piano solo. Körberg’s final numbers of the evening were Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock,” presented with rock-era vigor, and “Here’s To Life,” the Artie Butler-Phyllis Mornay song given prominence by Shirley Horn. Carl Bagge’s arrangement incorporated the five members of the woodwind section playing flutes en masse. It was a resplendent effect.

Hannah Svensson sang “What a Little Moonlight Can Do” at a fast tempo that she mastered with no apparent effort. Her singing had swing, confidence and control of intonation that showed significant artistic growth in the years since I first heard her in Ystad. The Swedish harmonicist Filip Jers joined Ms. Svensson for a romp through Toots Thielemans’ “Bluesette.” With his customary sensitivity of keyboard touch and stimulating uses of chords Jan Lundgren gave solo piano versions of “Walking My Baby Back Home,” from the Nat Cole songbook, and a respectful treatment Bobby Timmons’s modern jazz classic “Dat Dere.” Ms. Svensson.

The popular actor, comedian and drummer Janne “Loffe” Carlsson came onstage as a surprise guest. He spoke amusingly and at length about his relationship with Monica Zetterlund. Carlsson was introduced as having been her husband, although there seems to be no documentary evidence to support that. Promising to be brief, he amused the audience by producing from his jacket a roll of paper. He made it seem that he intended to use it as notes for a speech. The notes turned out to be a scroll that was all but endless. It “accidentally” unrolled down to his shoe tops. He was not brief. He frequently reduced the audience to uproarious laughter with anecdotes and nonsense delivered with skilled timing that kept the crowd laughing.

Following intermission, Theresson returned in a slow version of “Sweet Georgia Brown,” a 1925 popular song usually taken fast—often too fast. The lyric is so familiar that most of the older members of the audience could no doubt have sung along. Theresson made of “Sweet Georgia” a ballad laden with meaning.

As the four-hour concert neared its end, Hannah Svensson and Jan Lundgren collaborated on a traditional Swedish song, “Jag vet en dejlig rosa.”  Filip Jers joined Lundgren on”Slängpolska (after Jacob Bruun).” Piano and harmonica blended in a collaboration that had the sadness of much traditional Swedish music while emphasizing the satisfactions of creative teamwork when a jazz performance goes well.

 

(All photos but the arena, Zetterlund and Carlsson by Markus Fägersten of the Ystad festival). Thanks to Markus for his usual fine work.

 

 

Following flights across the United States and the Atlantic Ocean and a gorgeous car ride from Copenhagen to Ystad, the Rifftides staff is looking out the window of our room in the storied Saltsjöbad hotel (opened in 1897) on southern Sweden’s Baltic shore. The customary collection of summer swimmers, tanners and loungers is on the beach, and the bike path is busy. I’ve shown you similar shots in the runups to previous Ystad Sweden Jazz Festivals, but this view is hard to resist.

The piano playing of Jan Johnsson (1931-1968) is also hard to resist. Johansson influenced jazz pianists everywhere. They included the young Jan Lundgren, who earned international acclaim and became the founding artistic director of this small medieval town’s world-class festival. The 2017 edition gets underway tomorrow evening and will run through Sunday. A couple of weeks ago we brought you video of Lundgren playing “Emigrantvisa” in a two-piano performance with the Czech pianist Emil Viklicky. Here is Jan Johansson playing that traditional Swedish song, also known as “They Sold Their Homestead.” His quartet mates in this 1961 Swedish Television appearance are Rune Gustafsson, guitar; Gunnar Johnsson, bass; and Ingvar Callmer, drums.

I am running soon for a plane headed to Sweden. But first: I must tell you about a discovery by blogger, Rifftides reader and tune-detective-first-class Tarik Townsend. Mr. Townsend (pictured) writes that he has found a recording of one of the most elusive quotes that Paul Desmond ever worked into a solo. As evidence, his story incorporates three videos, one of which has the quote itself. It’s a valuable and entertaining discovery. I congratulate Mr. Townsend for his diligent pursuit of a piece of Desmond ephemera that might have remained obscure but for the Townsend determination. To read his report and hear the music, go to his blog, which he named, It’s A Raggy Waltz. Come back here after you listen, for a final thought

In the Townsend piece, you heard Dave Brubeck voicing his enthusiasm for his partner’s wit. The appreciation the two had for one another’s work was frequently on display. They did not hold back their admiration for humor and harmonic resourcefulness. When the enthusiasm surfaced it was one of the factors that drew audiences in and helped make them—as Brubeck put it—the fifth member of the quartet.

Dave loved to laugh. Paul was happy to help.

It is impossible to review even a smattering of the dozens of albums that land in the Rifftides mailbox. With the Sweden trip looming, time allows for mentions of a few relatively recent releases that have caught the staff’s attention.

 

Maryanne de Prophetis, Tell A Star (ENNArecords)

In this collection of her compositions, Ms. de Prophetis melds a clear voice and solid musicianship with a sense of daring. The title song begins as a straightforward ballad with a story-telling lyric. A beguiling section of Ron Horton’s flugelhorn and Frank Kimbrough’s piano follows. When the singer re-enters, her lyric becomes abstract, but not as abstract as other songs with wordless vocals that also provide settings for Horton’s and Kimbrough’s improvisations. Drummer Satoshi Takeishi contributes patterns that reinforce and reflect the firmness or gentleness of Ms. de Prophetis’s singing and the bold, often witty, musings of the instrumentalists.

 

Kevin Eubanks, East West Time Line (Mack Avenue)

Playing electric guitar on some tracks and acoustic on others, Eubanks shows the skill and versatility that made him well known on television during his years as music director of the Tonight Show band. The album presents him with all-star quintets, one recorded in New York, the other in Los Angeles. His collective sidemen include trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Dave Holland, tenor saxophonist Bill Pierce, drummers Marvin “Smitty” Smith and Jeff “Tain” Watts. Eubanks wrote all of the music for the New York band. In L.A. he drew on compositions by Duke Ellington, Chick Corea, Ray Bryant and Marvin Gaye, plus the standard “My One and Only Love.” Eubanks restructures Bryant’s “Cubano Chant,” giving it an intriguing slinky feeling. Payton has a superbly contained solo on the opening “Time Line” and another in “Something About Nothing.” Pierce and Eubanks share the melody to great effect in “My One and Only Love.” Throughout, Eubanks is, in turn, relaxed and incisive. It’s a comfortable album.

 

Mary Halvorson Octet, Away With You (Firehouse 12 Records)

Expanding her band to eight musicians, guitarist Halvorson assembles young New York players whose esthetic matches hers. Their leanings toward unfettered expression are balanced by exacting musicianship. Ms. Halvorson’s writing here underlines the craftsmanship of her composing, arranging and improvising. I can imagine Igor Stravinsky smiling at the audacity of her ensemble constructions in the opening piece, “Spirit Splitter.” Pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn not only generates contrasts between her and Halvorson, as in the title tune, but also emphasizes how they complement one another, as in the piece called “Fog Bank.” Alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon, trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, trombonist Jacob Garchik and the vigorous tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock are splendid in the ensemble and in solo. Bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith are a formidable rhythm team. This album further establishes Mary Halvorson at the forefront of today’s avant garde.

 

Terry Gibbs, 92 Years Young: Jammin’ at the Gibbs House (Whaling City Sound)

Coaxed by his drummer son, vibraphonist Gibbs came out of retirement to record and insisted that he do it at home. The session with son Gerry, pianist John Campbell and the rising young bassist Mike Gurrola finds the vibraphonist playing with energy, speed and ebullience that has amazed his listeners and colleagues for seventy years. In a session that ran four days, Gibbs called tunes as he thought of them. The quartet recorded them as first—and only—takes and came up with an album that is enjoyable from beginning to end. Campbell is in great form, particularly impressive nailing “Donna Lee” in counterpoint at high speed as Gibbs and company finish a romping “Back Home Again in Indiana.” Among the 14 tunes “Yardbird Suite,” “Take The ‘A’ Train” “Imagination” and “All the Things You Are.” The old man sounds young on all of them.

 

Jeremy Pelt, Make Noise! (High Note)

The adventurous trumpeter has succeeded in the past few years with various applications of electronics. Here, however, he and his band are all acoustic. Whatever the loss in trendiness, there’s a gain in clarity and accessibility. Pelt’s command of the instrument is in clear relief in a set that also gives his sidemen plenty of exposure. Percussionist Jaquelene Acevedo introduces the opening track with a prelude on congas that sets up the title tune. She is a driving source of energy on several pieces, including the Latin-spirited “Bodega Social.” The rhythm section of pianist Victor Gould, bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Jonathan Barber are impressively attuned to one another. An individualist from the time of his first album, Pelt nonetheless is straightforward in acknowledging his heroes, as he does Miles Davis by way of tone and phrasing in “Prince,” a reflective piece that the liner notes emphasize has nothing to do with the late rock musician.

Roscoe Mitchell, Bells For The South Side (ECM)

If you have followed Mitchell’s searching music over the past 50 years, Bells For The South Side will reassure you that the septuagenarian composer, saxophonist and tireless avant-garde inspiration continues to innovate. Mitchell’s music makes demands on listeners—and rewards them for their attention.

This is not a rehash of his work in the 1960s with AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), or of Mitchell’s free jazz pioneering with his Art Ensemble of Chicago. It is brand new. He is one of the great avant garde experimenters, and in this two-CD set there is plenty of experimentation. Some of it involves his arsenal of woodwinds ranging from bass saxophone to sopranino and flute. Other pieces are fiestas of bells, gongs, cymbals, woodblocks and assorted drums. The moments packed with percussion may call into question Mitchell’s commitment to his famous dictum that music is half sound and half silence. Never fear, he lives up to that notion. Quietness is an aspect of what makes for absorbing listening to the ensembles in the opening “Spatial Aspects of the Sound,” and in “The Last Chord,” Cards For Drums and The Final Hand,” and an exhilarating reprise of his 1973 Art Ensemble composition “Odwalla.”

As he continues his adventures, the 77-year-old Mitchell’s colleagues are pianist Craig Taborn, trumpeter Hugh Raglin, trombonist Tyshawn Sorey, saxophonist James Fei, bassist Jaribu Shahid, and percussionists William Winant, Kikanju Baku and Tani Tabbal.

 

Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh, Expedition: Duo: Electro-Acoustic Improvisations (Sunnyside)

Pianist Denny Zeitlin, Mitchell’s contemporary and fellow native of Chicago, is equally dedicated to ceaseless artistic growth. This is how he concludes a paragraph of notes for his latest collaboration with drummer-percussionist George Marsh,

We often feel like we are some kind of galactic orchestra.

That does not mean that they are space cadets. Their unplanned mutual inventiveness is so logical that it often sounds as if it must have been conceived on manuscript paper, but no; it is spontaneous improvisation, forged in experience and trust that go back to Zeitlin’s 1960s trio with Marsh, his music for the 1970s remake of the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and to Riding The Moment, the duo’s previous Sunnyside album. Zeitlin uses electronic keyboards, a synthesizer and creative engineering to fashion, among other things,  impressions of horn sections, an arco bass, a guitar and what might be a trumpet or—wait a minute—it’s a trombone (if a trombone could play that high).

Marsh’s cymbals crashes on “Not Lost in The Shuffle” are priceless. Throughout, he accompanies Zeitlin’s permutations with drumming that occasionally echoes and always complements his partner’s piano-synthesizer-organ-trumpet-saxophone-trombone-guitar-orchestra creations. That sentence may read like the prescription for a complex disaster waiting to happen. There is no disaster. The music has a bebop feeling of forward motion in “Traffic;” turns as lyrical as a minor-key Schubert sonata in “Spiral Nebula;” recalls the classic Zeitlin trio with Marsh when “One Song” gets fully underway; makes you want to dance during “Watch Where You Step;” and swings hard during Zeitlin’s electro-faux trombone solo on “Shards Of Blue.”

The album is a remarkable technical accomplishment. More important, it is a solid musical achievement that has the virtue of being—if you’ll pardon the outmoded, uncool, expression—entertaining.

 

Nat King Cole Trio, Zurich 1950 (TCB)

Nat Cole was of a musical generation that did not consider whether it was cool to be entertaining. He welcomed it as an obligation passed along by musicians who included Louis Armstrong and Cole’s hero and role model Earl “Fathah” Hines. This album in the invaluable TCB series of rescued live recordings is from the end of the period when Cole had established himself as a singer but still considered the piano his main instrument. His piano playing here will remind anyone who may have forgotten that with his keyboard touch and refined harmonic sense, Cole was one of the major influences on players of the instrument. Directly or indirectly, he touched every modern jazz pianist who emerged during and after the 1940s. Yet, his fame as a popular singer was so great that it is not unusual for someone to exclaim, as I heard recently, “Oh, he played the piano too?”

This is a typical Cole set from the period, with featured spots for the lightning-fast bongo playing of Jack Costanzo, guitarist Irving Ashby’s lyricism and bebop quotes, and bassist Joe Comfort solid lines. The pianist has notable solos on “Body and Soul” and “Poor Butterfly.” He rather uproariously emulates Hines on “Saint Louis Blues,” which melds into what must be must be one of the earliest covers of Milt Jackson’s “Bluesology.” That piece was on its way to becoming a classic when Jackson first recorded it for Savoy less than four months before this Cole concert. The Swiss audience liked it so much that their enthusiastic applause demanded a reprise.

Yes, Cole sings —good versions of “Embraceable You,” “Little Girl,” “Sweet Lorraine” and “Route 66,” which had been a hit for four years when this was recorded. Cole, the band and the audience were in good spirits and the sound quality captured by Radio SRF at Zurich’s Kongresshaus is generally excellent. This is an important addition to the Nat Cole discography.

On July 12 we lost Joe Fields. During his long career Fields was the guiding spirit of record labels committed to unalloyed jazz. He started the Cobblestone label and later changed its name to Muse. Among the dozens of musicians he recorded on Muse over three decades were Woody Shaw, Houston Person, Grant Green and Pat Martino.

In the 1980 Fields absorbed the Savoy and Landmark labels, whose holdings encompassed recordings by major figures including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson and Bobby Hutcherson. In the late ‘90s, he and his son Barney created High Note Records, whose prominent artists include Person, Tom Harrell, Russell Malone, Ron Carter, Wallace Roney, Eric Alexander and Freddy Cole. One of the most recent High Note releases is pianist Cyrus Chestnut’s There’s A Sweet, Sweet Spirit, one of several Fields projects for which he asked me to write liner essays.

Joe was businesslike, determined and, when it came to musical quality, uncompromising. Indications are that Barney Fields will now direct High Note’s fortunes.

From one of several Houston Person encounters with bassist Ron Carter on labels overseen by Joe Fields, here is “Mr. Bow Tie.”

Before long, the Rifftides staff will be flying to Europe for the 2017 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival. As always, the festival lineup will include prominent visiting American artists. Among them are tenor saxophonists Jerry Bergonzi and Joshua Redman, trumpeter Tim Hagans, drummer Al Foster and guitarist Al Di Meola.

In addition, the Ystad artistic director, pianist Jan Lundgren, has engaged some of Europe’s intriguing young musician—and a few older ones. For instance, the veteran pianists Louis van Dijk of Holland and Iiro Rantala of Finland will perform in separate solo concerts. Lundgren himself will appear twice, first in a duo with a fellow Swede, the celebrated trombonist Nils Landgren. Later in the week, Lundgren will perform with his Potsdamer Quartet of Scandinavian all-stars. Also exploring the freedom allowed in duets will be the seasoned Swedish artists pianist Bobo Stenson and saxophonist/ flutist Lennart Åberg.

Returning to the festival after five years will be the Japanese pianist Hiromi, in a duo with the Colombian harpist Edmar Castañeda. Reviewing her previous Ystad performance, I described Hiromi as a whirlwind. Castañeda’s virtuosity is said to match hers. Maybe we can expect a double whirlwind. Another duo concert (do I detect a trend?) will be by Swedish bassist Hans Backenroth and Danish guitarist Jacob Fischer. Other performances to anticipate:

• Three Swedish singers in tribute to the late Swedish diva Monica Zetterlund, with Jan Lundgren at the piano.
• Trumpeter Bobby Medina, an American musician tightly connected to Sweden, featured with the XL Big Band.
• Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen with the style-bending group David’s Angels led by bassist David Carlsson.
• The energy and drive of tenor saxophonist HÃ¥kan Broström and his new big band, the New Places Orchestra.
• Soprano saxophonist Karolina Almgren moving into a leadership role with a quintet that includes a cello.
• The New York band called The Rad Trads playing a concert in the ancient courtyard of Per Helsas gÃ¥rd after leading the festival’s opening parade through the streets of Ystad.

To see the complete schedule, go here.

In what may be considered a preview of the Ystad festival, let’s hear saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi with trumpeter Tim Hagans at last year’s jazz festival in Copenhagen, up the road from Ystad and into Denmark by way of a long bridge and a tunnel under an arm of the Baltic Sea. Bergonzi’s fellow tenor saxophonist is Thomas Franck of Sweden. Carl Winther is on piano, Johnny Åman on bass, Anders Mogensen on drums. All of them but Franck will be in with Bergonzi in Ystad. They play “Scorpio Dance.”

Today’s early morning cycling expedition took me past a magnificent pear orchard in the hills west of town. Here is the orchard…

…and here are pears taking on color and that lovely pear shape.

Apples are the principal cash crop in this area of Eastern Washington State, but in a good year pears do nicely for their growers.

Mulling over what music about pears to use with this post, I quickly ran out of options. You’d be surprised how few songs there are with “pear” in the title. So, I made the obvious choice. Erik Satie (pictured left) wrote Trois morceaux en forme de poire (“Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear”) in 1903. The legend is that it came in reaction to ClaudeDebussy’s suggestion that Satie should pay more attention to form in his music. The accuracy of the legend has been challenged, but it makes a good story. And Satie made good music. This is one of his best-known compositions. We hear and see it by the duo piano team of Giovanni Carmassi and Giuseppe Fricelli.

Our Rifftides Russian correspondent, Svetlana Ilicheva, writes that one of her favorite listening spots in Moscow is the Zhurfac café. Not far from the Kropotkinskaya metro stop on Gogol Boulevard, the Zhurfac is in a neighborhood of major cultural interest because of the State Art Museum named for writer and national icon Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837). Nearby on the bank of the Moskva River is the massive Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The district is a few blocks southwest of the Kremlin.

Now that you have your bearings, let’s visit the Zhurfac café. Its owner is Suren Gabriel, a journalism graduate of Moscow State University who lives in two countries, Russia and Israel. Svetlana received Mr. Gabriel’s permission for Rifftides to show you a video he made recently of a performance at his establishment. Guitarist Georgy Yashagashvily is warming as as we pass the greeter, Mr. Dobson. Mr. Dobson’s stern gaze is despite, or perhaps because of, his being made of rubber.

Svetlana (pictured right) tells us about the band.

The musicians are quite well known in our Jazz community. Anatoly Tekuchyov is considered to be the best vibist in Moscow. Igor Ivanushkin is a very popular bassist, energetic and enthusiastic, who always creates a festive atmosphere wherever he plays. Georgy Yashagashvily is a fine guitarist, head of the Jazz-manush community in Moscow (the followers of Django Reinhard). Every time I have the opportunity to hear this trio, I take it. Zhurfac café is a nice place for that purpose. Here, they play “You Don’t Know What Love Is.”